Arteries veins and capillaries and adaptative advantage of haemoglobin.

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arteries veins and capillaries and adaptative advantage of haemoglobin

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Explain the adaptive advantage of haemoglobin: Adaptive Advantage: Adaptive Advantage: If blood carried oxygen without haemoglobin, the oxygen would have to be dissolved directly into the plasma (into water). Oxygen is not very soluble in water If oxygen was carried only by being dissolved in blood plasma, 100 ml of water would only be able to carry 0.2 ml of oxygen The presence of haemoglobin increases the oxygen carrying capacity of blood by 100 times. 100 ml of blood actually carries 20 ml of oxygen. Dissolved only ----> 0.2 ml O2 / 100 ml blood Haemoglobin ----> 20 ml O2 / 100 ml blood This ability of blood to carry large quantities of oxygen gives mammals a considerable survival advantage Mammalian cells need a lot of energy and therefore must have a continual supply of OXYGEN for RESPIRATION The extra energy allows mammals to be active, as well as grow large.

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ARTERIES: Carry blood away from heart (high blood pressure) The pressure created by the heart’s pumping creates great stress in the arteries This is why the arteries are thick walled, elastic and muscular. The arteries are not motionless; they have muscle fibres in them which can contract and relax. This contracting maintains the pressure on the blood, so that the blood travels in spurts towards the body tissues (the contracting and relaxing also creates the pulse on your wrist or neck). The muscle fibres of the arteries also maintain the rate of the flow of blood. Arteries usually carry oxygenated blood

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CAPILLARIES: Capillaries are an extension of the inner layers of the arteries and veins Capillaries connect arteries and veins Capillaries are only one cell thick, and are so narrow, that only one red blood cell can pass at a time. Capillaries surround all tissue cells Thus, they provide a very large surface area over which exchange of materials between blood and body cells can occur.

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VEINS: Veins carry blood back to the heart Veins are not under a lot of stress - blood pressure is low This is why they have thinner walls than arteries, less muscle and a wider diameter (large lumen). Since there are no thick muscular walls to keep the blood pulsing along, the veins have a series of valves which prevent the blood from back-flowing on its way back up to the heart. The veins also run through muscles, such as your leg muscles, and as you use these muscles, they press on the veins, pushing blood through the veins.